week 5 15th February-21st February

Personal and Cultural Experience

Its been great to have Katharine Elkin and Hannah Walker visit with us. They decided to holiday in Hong Kong for ten days before heading to Guangzhou for their international exchange. Michaela and I were both off for Chinese New Year so we had a lot of fun introducing them to the other international students and celebrating in style. They joined the boat trip to see the fireworks on the fifteenth. It was amazing to be so close to the fireworks and to enjoy the skyline of Hong Kong from the harbour. It was two of our friends birthdays so there was many Chinese dishes followed by cake.

I took advantage of being on holiday to do some sightseeing and shopping. During my week off we went to the haberary Dasherary market. Every craft item you could possible imagine. Another day we headed to the Avenue of Stars and placed our hand where Jackie Chan's had been. Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan were the only two stars we knew.

I was invited for a Chinese New Years meal. My roomate Lim and I travelled for two hours to reach the girl's house. It was my first time to be in what they would call the 'countryside' here although it is still very built up. The whole family was there including many who had travelled across the boarder from China for this night. Natell told me that everyone comes no matter the distance because of the importance of family. Chinese New year is the one time when you can expect to see all your relatives. She explained to me that the house was decorated in a very specific way. As I entered her home there was a lemon tree. This is significant because it symbolises five generations being gathered.

As I looked around and saw Natell's Grandparents as well as her youngest nephew I felt really lucky to be invited along to what was a very special day in the year. I was treated like one of the family and this meant receiving red pockets-not just one or two but about twenty. It is a custom during Chinese New year to give out money in red pockets to children and those who are unmarried. Each couple has to give two pockets and when you receive the money you accept it with both hands and bow slightly. Its a great custom that I think should be adopted by Northern Ireland.


Everywhere I looked there was food. We started the evening with a BBQ and then ended up in the kitchen to cook our own noodles in a hot soup and enjoy sea food served on shells. We then went into the living room and ate fruit which was followed by nuts and other interesting Chinese snacks on the porch.

Wai Wai, Michaela's buddy invited Michaela, Katherine, Hannah and myself to her flat on the 21st floor. The highlight of the visit was learning how to play 'omgi'. A Chinese game commonly played by the elderly in parks and anywhere really that theres enough room to set up a table. We thought we were doing pretty good until they played each other and moved so fast I couldn't tell whose turn it was.

This photo was taken after creating a hip hop video on one of the buses with the other internationals. Something about the Chinese New Year. We all let our hair down. I also enjoyed seeing the New Years parade with everyone. I'd only ever seen videos of the lion dance before so it was really neat to be there in person. The parade made us laugh alot because of the random food characters walking around. There was a great atmosphere and despite the rain there were crowds of people. When the parade finished we were just at a standstill.

One of the most random events I attended over the Chinese New Year was a comic world conference. Students bring there work here in the hope that they can get signed and move from the amateur to professional world of drawing comics. The photos tell it all. Students have made their own outfits and many had comic books and other merchandise that they had designed for sale. As the only foreigners there we were approached and asked if we could comment on the event. luckily for me Christmas and Anton knew what they were talking about and I just said I was impressed with the students work. They got us to finish the interview by jumping in the air and yelling animax. Its funny the things you will do in a country where noone knows you.

Professional Development

Michaela, Jamie and I are organising an event to promote the UK. We met with Carmen in the International office who says HKIEd will give us a budget and she wants us to come up with a programme that promotes our country but more importantly introduces local students to our campus. We have the Stranmillis year book here but not much else so we are going to have to be creative. I have already decided that we should ask KaYu, Wing, Victor and Shirley to come and share their experience.